1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hyper text reading system for providing and reading hyper text on a network.
2. Related Background Art
Generally, a technique for the purpose of adding a detailed description or related information for a document or wordings of a document, which is linked to another document or data is known. Such a linked document or data is called a hyper text. As a link destination from the hyper text, in addition to a hyper text and an ordinary text, multimedia data such as image, audio, video, or the like can also be designated.
Various WWW browsers are known as means for presenting (displaying) information of a hyper text on WWW (World Wide Web) of the internet.
Those WWW browsers have a function to present (display) the hyper text selected by the user from WWW servers existing on the internet. The WWW browser usually has a function to present (display) still image data besides a text document and the like.
A spot linked to another document or data existing in the hyper text is called an anchor. When the user clicks the anchor by a mouse button or the like, the WWW browser has a function to download a document or data on the link destination side showing the anchor from the relevant WWW server and to present (display) it.
If the data on the link destination side is video data or audio data and the WWW browser itself does not have a function to present them, a method whereby the WWW browser activates an external application in correspondence to a format of the data on the link destination side and the external application presents the information on the link destination side is used. Such an external application is called a helper application or, simply, a helper.
A method called a plug-in such that an extended function of the WWW browser is read out from an external memory device such as a hard disk or the like in correspondence to the data format on the link destination side and the data on the link destination side is displayed in the WWW browser is also known.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which the WWW browser operates in cooperation with the helper. In the diagram, a site 701 of a contents provider to be connected exists on the internet 703. A WWW server (computer) 704 and a contents server (computer) 705 are provided in the site 701, respectively. There is considered a case where hyper text information accumulated in the WWW server 704 and video information accumulated in the contents server 705 are displayed by a computer 702 of an information reader through the internet 703.
The contents server which is used here denotes a server in which multimedia data such as video information or audio information has been accumulated. There is also a case where the contents server operates on the same computer as that of the WWW server.
When the computer 702 of the information reader and the WWW server 704 existing in the site 701 of the contents provider are connected via the internet, in step S1, the information reader requests the hyper text information existing in the WWW server 704 by operating a WWW browser 706.
In step S2, the WWW server 704 transmits the hyper text information to the computer 702 of the information reader. The computer 702 of the information reader who received the hyper text information displays a hyper text 708 by the WWW browser 706.
An anchor 709 which is linked to the video information accumulated in the contents server 705 is included in the hyper text 708.
In step S3, when the information reader clicks the anchor 709, the WWW browser 706 knows that the link destination of the anchor 709 is video data.
In this instance, if the WWW browser 706 itself does not have a function to display the video image, the WWW browser 706 automatically activates a helper application 707 in step S4 and notifies the helper application 707 of address (address of the contents server 705) information on the link destination side of the anchor 709.
In step S5, the helper application 707 is subsequently connected to the computer of the contents server 705 in an address on the link destination side notified from the WWW browser 706 in step S4 and transmits a video data request command.
In step S6, when the video data request command is received, the contents server 705 transmits the video data to the helper application 707. The helper application 707 which received the video data presents a contents information 710 in a readable format.
Even in the case where the WWW browser 706 itself does not have the function to present the contents information which is provided by the contents provider, according to the procedure as mentioned above, the helper application 707 is activated and the data can be downloaded and presented.
The foregoing conventional system, however, has the following problems.
That is, as shown in FIG. 8, there is considered a case where an anchor 713 which is linked to the contents information which is provided by the contents provider exists in a hyper text 712 downloaded from a WWW server (computer) 711a existing in a WWW site 711 of a third party which is not concerned with the site 701 of the contents provider.
When the information reader clicks the anchor 713, the WWW browser 706 automatically activates the helper application 707. The helper application 707 downloads the contents data from the contents server 705 of the contents provider and displays the contents information 710 as if the third party provided the information. There is a case of the occurrence of a disadvantage of the contents provider such that the information reader can read the contents data without seeing the hyper text in which a name of the information provider, a product name, remarks in use, and the like have been written which the contents provider inherently wants to present or the like.